Even A hundred folds of grief is divisible by love. A statement that I did really like from reading Chicken Soup for the Soul: From Lemonade to Lemon. I am not the only one who suffered from this disease known LOVE by human for how many millennial. There are so many reasons for a couple to separate ways. Girlfriend-Boyfriend relationship could end up for so many reasons. How much more for a couple, whose been married for how many years. When does a relationship ends? When both were already through from each other? When sparks already worn out? Or did each of the individual find another love to spend their time with and find if it’s worth staying? For those who suffered and reading this, how did you heal your broken heart?

The traces are still there. Forgiveness is not yet given, and I don’t know when will be that day. Some people said, the sign of moving on is when you forgive the one who did the hurtful things to you. Is this true? But then again, I couldn’t totally answer that.

So below this are things I did just to pull myself up.

1. Write your thoughts out!

From my previews post, I did write an articles. For I couldn’t keep my emotion as much as I can. When we were in that situation, thoughts suddenly overflowing. All the queries. All the doubts that cannot be answered suddenly takes a toll on me. I am an introvert person. I just can’t tell you what my thoughts out loud, unlike extrovert people. I keep them, but in some way or another, there is always a so called limits to everything. I recently realized that during those days. The limits of comprising everything inside. So I thought I need an outlet. Something that could minimize the bearing, keep myself in total check, and blocking my mind off from thinking. I did the writings, posted some of them to this page. Most of my write ups was posted in a certain website that stopped working years ago. Ended up deleting every post I had back then, but that’s okay now, it’s all in the past. Aside from posting them from websites, I am also writing them up in a journal.

It feels good when you write them up. Looking from them years after, you will surely tell yourself, “How stupid I was back then!” and you will feel like it was the most embarrassing and funniest moment ever happen to your life.

2. Go out and do some Aerobics!

The music was loud, my co-aerobics ladies was busy dancing, and I was like doing the moves but I had a teary eyes. I held back, controlled it, and do the moves. I did go through readings from websites, magazines and other reading materials just to get rid the thoughts of our relationship from my mind and one of their advice was do the moves. By doing an exercise that releases an endorphin (or the happy hormones) from your body will increase and help you to get on the positive track. It is indeed effective.

My goal back then was not to get my body fats out from my system, but to get my mind off the track from thinking of him.

There were those moments when writing isn’t enough. You want an advice from someone who can understand your distress, and know how to deal on some of your deep worries. I am thankful to my friend, who was there when I needed an advice. Someone I can go to when everything seems so unclear. Thanks to her, I conquered that feeling.

4. Look for something that will get yourself busy.

Working on something that will let your thoughts drift off from the burdened you carry within yourself is a must. You can gear yourself to do something that might interest you. Don’t let yourself do nothing, and think everything all over and over again in your home at your own emotional expense. Go out! You can do a cooking class, stitch a little bit, go for a seminar, training, or do anything that will make you happy. Taking one step at a time is worth a try than moping around. Aerobics isn’t enough for me back then, I invest my earnings in learning new things. I enrolled in Education at St. Michael for 1 year class with 24 units subject at hand. I missed going to school. Doing this, really gave me plenty of things to worry that will keep my mind off of him. I got lot of home works, papers to be finished, reports to do and immersion to go to. It was then a busy year. I was working Weekdays, going to school during Weekends, a daily dose of 1 hour aerobics and doing all my papers during night time. Speaking of this, I kind of missed doing it.

5. Don’t let yourself play slow songs or something romantic.

As much as I can, I don’t like listening to mellow music. I need something pop, rock or something that I can apply my aerobic thing. For listening mellow music will get me to square one, and it can took a little bit of time to pull myself again. So don’t let yourself do this, unless you’ve moved on.

6. Travel

After I gave my ultimate decision to my father about us, I decided to go somewhere to heal my undeniable broken heart. I went to the place where I really love, Japan. I did do a little bit of savings for almost a months. As far as my budget can stretch, I did try not to spend too much. Trying to stop myself from the whim of my own wants, and thankfully, it was a success. I got my dream. I went there and it was the most happiest thing ever that did happen to my existence here on earth. It means a lot to me.

Each and every one of us has different coping up mechanism. It so happen that, what is written here is something I did try to pull myself from this distress. You can try anything that is appropriate to you, no one needs to control you for what you want.

For those viewers whose reading this and has a same situation, you know that you are not alone. If you want to cry, cry like a river, but don’t make it forever. The last thing that I did learn from all of this is that; No one can save you at the end of day, but you, yourself alone. Live fully, and live well.

Following my post yesterday, May 4, 2017, I am also going to share specific photos from our travel to Malaysia last 2015. Due to time constraint, we did visit the place for 1 ½ day, see 3-4 places and almost missed our plane. Thanks to the kindness of a Half-Indian and Half-Chinese driver who pressed the car’s accelerator and take its speed to the airport. If you’re going to the said place, better to have 3-4 days of visit. Below here were the happy moments on that certain days:

For the whole travel, we did booked our flight going to Malaysia as our point of arrival. From there, we did took our night train over KTM Intercity train going to Malaysia and Singapore borders, then take our leave for a Singapore sightseeing for 2 days. Afterwards, our departure area was through Malaysia’s Airport, took a ticket for KTM Intercity train going back to the City of Kuala Lumpur.

If you’re going to ask me which City is much safer, I will say, Singapore it is. However, if ever you’re going to let me pick one of the 4 countries that I have been to, Japan is something I admired the most. Yet I will set Saudi Arabia aside since this one is a Holy place, and the most important place for us Muslim in the entire world.

The next trip, I want? I will still wanted to go back to Japan and see Hokkaido. A place located at the Southern part of the said country.

This will be my first entry for the Month of May. I haven’t had the chance to share my experience about our trip to Singapore and Malaysia last 2015. So I’ll be just sharing some pictures of our travel back then. Like anybody else, I did enjoy our trip thanks to Cebu Pacific Promo deals, and especially thanks to my friends. It has been one of many memorable things I had for the year 2015.

This guy in the picture is not my cousin, that’s for sure. It is just an image representing this article:)

Homosexuality has been well-thought-out as deviant behavior throughout human history. People cannot remove this kind of behavior towards one person who is involved into this kind of act. Christian, Muslim and other religion condemn this homosexuality, but then again we cannot judge one person just for having this kind of behavior.

I did interviewed a close relative of being a gay and he told me everything I want to know. First of all, his alias name is “Gorgeous” (won’t like to state his name for privacy purposes) a first cousin of mine. I asked him if this deviancy was innate, and he told me that, it’s true. When he a was a child, most of his companions were all girls. In his growing up years he looks up to them. He observed the entire action the way girls do at a tender age, and later on he was influenced. During those time, he assumed that being with them, and acting like them is a norm. He ended up desiring to be like them.

Secondly, I asked him if ever he run into a problem of being a gay. He answered, “ My parents doesn’t want me to be like this, but what can I do? This is me. Hence, I feel that my kinsfolks hated me since I am a gay. Someday I’ll be someone that they’re going to be proud of and prove them that I am capable of doing things.” In Muslim communities, homosexuality is not accepted for they see this act as an immoral. Nevertheless, for the people who are engaged to this kind of doing feels that they are just being real to themselves.

Thirdly, I asked him if being a gay has given him anything or any benefits. He then replied, “It gives me the chance to be known in campus. I gained a lot of friends and made many memories to keep. Self-confidence is the key factor from all of this. I gained this for being myself, causing everything to fall to its rightful place.” I envy my cousin on this part. He has this guts and attitude that lures people toward his unique characteristic.

The Interviewer and the interviewee, which is me, is related by blood. Him, being a gay, as I see it doesn’t cause any problem. If he wants to be a gay then that’s his choice. We cannot force something to a person, he/she doesn’t want to. The only thing I can possibly do for him is to support and understand every endeavor his trying to accomplish.

This article was created a years ago. Gorgeous is not your typically gay who will wear a lot of makeup, have a thick red lips, and act excessively. Yet, he does wear in a very fashionable manner. Comparing from then to now, Gorgeous change 180 degrees. What do I mean? He ended up choosing being a man. He does once told us that “Let me do things, as what I am doing now. Time will come I’ll get bored acting this way” and he did. Though he did changed, yet his gesture still exist, act softly or” mahinhin” in tagalog.

***The statement that is indicated in this documents was an activities during my college years. Much further research is needed for those learners who wanted to know much more about this topic. This is a mere fragments of its totality.****

Introduction:

The Philippines in the past few years has not yet reach its population as what we have today. The religion Islam was reduced in numbers when the Spaniards conquered the Philippines, and the Christianity increased. Many of the Muslim people in the Luzon and Visayas had entered the religion Christianity, while Mindanao still believed in the religion Islam

Over a hundreds of years from the hands of the Spaniards, Muslim people had fought for their own rights. For about three hundred thirty three years under the power of Spaniards, Muslim people and the religion Islam stands firm. Up until American people went to the Philippines for the reasons of educating the Filipino people, and this brought to what they called commonwealth. Since the year 1918, they’ve tried to gather some data about the Muslim people living in the Mindanao. Unfortunately, they somehow can’t get the accurate data. The decreasing of the population of Muslim was also being understood for the fact that they don’t have adequate supply causing them to look for an alternative solution to live.

This study will get you to understand the reason why Muslim people decrease their population in the year 1918 to 1939. This also include the reasons why the government can’t get the accurate data of the population in Mindanao and the year when the Christian people migrated in Mindanao.

“The Land of Promise”, this is the another term for Mindanao. But do we know its meaning and why it is called this way? Maybe, most of the readers know the reason. Nevertheless, we do know the idea that Muslim people fought for so many years and yet for some reason, the freedom that they want to attain was not achieved. Even though they struggled so much to put it in realization, still it is not attainable. Muslim people were looking for the freedom they want, fighting for the same reason and for the same cause.

American regime had caused the Philippines to know the term education, as a part of implementing rules for the governance of this country. This involves the birth of the commonwealth in the Philippines. In the year 1918, the Muslim people had to compete with Christian Filipinos who immigrated in large numbers into Mindanao during those times. This massive resettlement was continued in the post war years on a similar scale from 1946 to early sixties, and reduced proportion during last decade. For this reason, the high annual average growth of non-Muslim had increased especially in the seven provinces were Muslim settled Sulu, Lanao del Sur, Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Palawan., and Zamboanga del Norte. These seven southern provinces in Mindanao were being settled by the Non-Muslim people. One of the possible reason was due to extreme economic necessity that has forced many Maguindanao farmers to sell their lands to adventurous people from Christian communities encroachments. Some of them was forced to retreat to the interior or to migrate to a few towns that have managed to remain predominantly Muslim.

In getting the accurate data, the people who survey here in Mindanao had a tough work and they can’t get the accurate information of the population of Muslim people living in the Mindanao. There were those people who estimated the numbers of the Muslim people, and one of them was Hilario M. Gomez in 1972, who gave a figure between four and five million, or ten or twelve percent in the Manifesto of the Muslim Independence Movement of May 1, 1968. They are the same with the estimation of Alunan C. Glang. This week Sunday magazine said that two million Filipinos or eight percent of the population followed the creed of Islam out of twenty four million people living here in the Philippines. Another estimated reported in 1968 by Antonio Isidro placed the number at 2 million or 5.4 percent of the population. In other words, all the same number was just an estimation of the total number of the Muslim people settling here in Mindanao. That’s why the United Nation Hand Book of Population Census Methods did not recommend questions on religious affiliation because of inexact and incomplete replies usually obtained. This are the reason why they can’t get the accurate data:

Intrinsic to the subject itself.

Compounded in some Muslim areas of the Philippines because of the hostility of the inhabitants to government personnel.

Disturbed conditions in many Muslim sectors in 1970, census takers apparently sometimes made extrapolations based on extremely limited survey.

The mobility of the Philippines Muslim population makes it hard to determine trends of grown or decrease. This true among the one of the major groups. The Tausug, a sea-oriented people, many of whom constantly migrate from coastal settlements in Sulu and other in Borneo, Maguindanao and Palawan.

Some muslim groups overstate their numbers.

Despite of these difficulties, the Bureau of the Census and Statistics will probably yield the best approximation to serve a starting point. There were six censuses have been taken in the Philippines since 1990. They found out that 96.7% of the Muslim population of the Philippines is to be found in seven of the southern provinces.

According to the censuses , the percentage of Muslims in the total population decreased from 4.29% to 4.23% between 1918 and 1939 and to 4.11% by 1948.This decreasing trends becomes more understandable with these reasons that follows.

Low of standards of public health and sanitation.

Because of ignorance and malnutrition that they are susceptible to disease.

Major cause death among the young

Tuberculosis

Malaria

High percentage of mothers dies in child birth

Less than half the children born reach adulthood, most dying in their first year of life.

The young are permanently weakened by disease.

Their resistance to the governmental policy in the early days of American Regime. This includes that over thousand died in the battle because of opposing the policy which is the ultimate integration of the Fil-Muslim into the body of an independent Philippines.

In short, most Muslim people were lack of knowledge in the medicine. There were no or small numbers of doctors or people who had knowledge on those acquired illnesses and the medication was out of it. In the American regime, Muslim people tried to fight them just like what they had done in the years of the Spaniards but they unfortunately being beaten that causes for a thousands of people to sacrifice their lives in the battle.

The Maguindanao were the largest Philippine Muslim group and they are to be found in Cotabato. The Census of 1970 gives a total of 424,577 Muslim for the province, but Dr. Robert B. Fox set the number for that year between 360,000 and 400,00. The censuses figure would require an average annual increase of 10.8% for each of the twelve years between 1948 and 1960. This would represent an annual increase more than three times as great as that of the annual increase of 3.4% for the whole Philippines during the same twelve-year. A 10.8% annual increase become less credible when it is noted that under wartime conditions between 1939 and 1948. The Maguindanao registered an average annual decrease of .53 of one percent. Doctor Isidro and Saber graphically portray the situation precisely for the period 1948-1960, when the Maguindanao were supposedly be growing more than three times as rapidly as the rest of the Philippines.

In addition with the census that have done by the Bureau of the Census and Statistics, a comparison of average annual rates of increase for Muslims and non-Muslims in these provinces. It may give some indication of the general trend of population and perhaps a better approximation of the real number of Muslim in the Philippines today. This comparison of trends is given in Table 1 and 2.

TABLE 1

MUSLIM AND NON-MUSLIM POPULATION

TABLE 2

PERCENT CHANGE IN MUSLIM AND NON-MUSLIM POPULATION

(Growth Unless Otherwise Indicated)

Summary

Therefore as a conclusion, we can say that American and commonwealth regime made the Non-Muslims settle to the Mindanao which was one of the reasons why Muslim people reduced their numbers from their homeland. Gathering the accurate data of the Muslim people was very hard to take it all because of some hitches. Medications and Medical facilities are very few to their places because of lack of knowledge and very few materials that made other Muslim perished due to an illness, especially the young children. If only Muslim people were well aware about the scenario and understand the entire situation they were in, the whole thing will change. Maybe those young children who have lived and suffered might have the chance to live the life of being a child on their own.

As a part of the Muslim people living here in Mindanao, I could say that I’m proud to my ancestors because of the courage, hope and bravery they had shown to attain the victory they wanted for themselves against the Spaniards. However, I could not blame them for selling their properties just to survive.

Even though Mindanao is called as “The Land of the Promise” I could say that someday, the Muslim people in the past decades and their descendants will have the freedom that they are aiming for. From so many years of fighting and sacrificing everything for the goal they want to achieve, in God’s time, it will happen.

“This story is something I created when I was a first year college, year 2005. My teacher from English 3 instructed us to make a story based from the picture he revealed to us. At that moment, the picture he did revealed was a photo of a cave and war like scenario, then this is how I created the story.”

It was May 14, 2014 when my friend Joan invited us to be reunited again after a long time, her friend since high school, to go in Palawan. It was her treat for us to relax from a heavy office duty, to have a sightseeing not to mentioned, vacation with the gang! It was the right time then since it was summer. All of us were free from work. The sea was a crystal clear as well as the sky that was very much bluer than blue when we arrived, and Joan was standing near the shore waiting for us.

After a few days of appreciating the beauty of the said place, we have decided to go to the cave. The last spot that we haven’t gone to. There were three boats that were going inside and one of that boats were us. Before entering the cave, Aliyah was quite afraid going inside because it was dark. I, myself was also afraid from the kept hidden mystery from the cave. Still, the man said that there’s nothing to be afraid of since the cave is not perilous. As we go in, we’ve seen lot of things inside and one of this was a limestone which was created by a slight acidic substance that slowly dissolves the rock along cracks and it looks like a crystal as the light of our flashlight hits the wall of the cave and we are amazed how wonderful it was. As we row the boat, many bats were flying towards us, until we arrived at the zone of the cave which is called the twilight zone. Joan explained to us what twilight zone is. She said that this zone is sheltered from direct sunlight and normally has a moderate environment than above ground and host to a diverse population of animals. After an hour, we succeed coming out from the cave with a feeling of contentment and memories of our experiences inside the cave.

After enjoying the trip, we finally decided to go back to the resort hotel. It was getting dark when my friend wawa was reading a newspaper when suddenly she started to uproar. As I look at the newspaper, it was a picture of three cars that were burning into flame beside a building and it came from the country of Iraq. Bainarie told us that they were at the chaos that is happening in Iraq at this very moment, and it was true as seen on CNN News today. I’ve seen many people, military unit and other events that are involve in that pandemonium. From that moment, I feel bad and pity to those people who are involved in that turmoil. As I look up the sky, the stars are shining so brightly and the sea was calm. I suddenly think that, while we were having fun on this island, other people were suffering from commotion that caused by misunderstanding. Now, I realize that sometimes, life is becoming unfair.

“It was a story I created 11 years ago, and to tell you, this didn’t happen since our friend Joan died from an incurable illness last 2013. It was an unexpected sickness that caused her body to grow frailer each day. The treatment from her illness haven’t been resolved by science, only to reduce the pain. Due to her stress caused by her environment, her sickness grow quicker than expected. Not later than a year, I guess, after knowing her illness, she died. The sickness that caused her life to demise is called LUPUS.”

As per experience, applying for japan visa needs an effort for a tourist. You can’t just go to the embassy and apply for it personally. You need to go through to accredited travel agencies that allowed by the Japanese Embassy to transact with them. You need to choose, and better to canvass on how much processing fee they need for you to pay. Last 2015, we let Pan Pacific do our transaction with processing fee worth 2,000. It’s quite a lot, however our determination didn’t stop from wanting to go to Japan.

The next time around, year 2017, we did canvas for other agencies who can possibly accommodate us with a lower processing fee. Pan pacific was still at 2,000, others were 1,200 and luckily, we did find Discovery Tour with 800 php as processing fee. Without any further ado, most of us decided to choose this agency.

To help those who are planning to go to the Land of the rising sun. Below are the list of documents needed by the agency.

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About Me

Jomairah Mulay is the founder and writer of Emotion at Peek. She lived in Marawi City, a place thousand miles from the central city of the Philippines. She is a worker at day, and a blogger during no office hours. I love Japan, and that's no joke:) Blogging gives me the feeling of having my own space when the world is occupied with so much buzz. You can email me through emotionatpeek@gmail.com or send me a message through this number +639279940053. Have a great days Guyz:)